Addiction: State's Overdose Problem Requires A Sense Of Urgency

EDITORIAL

Connecticut is not doing enough to keep people from becoming addicted to alcohol and drugs and dying of drug overdoses.

Only a fraction of those who need help with the chronic, relapsing disease of addiction get that help here, mirroring statistics nationwide.

Drug and alcohol overdoses are killing kids, parents and siblings. They are the leading cause of injury deaths here, exceeding the number of deaths from motor vehicle accidents.

Between 1997 and 2007, 2,900 people died from overdoses in our state, according to Dr. Traci Green, a Brown University epidemiologist who did extensive research on drug use in Connecticut. Three-quarters of the overdose deaths involved opioids such as heroin and prescription drugs, she said.

More Narcan

The state needs to take action to save lives. It should:

•Ramp up efforts to broadly distribute Naloxone, commonly called Narcan, a lifesaving drug that can keep overdoses from progressing.

•Restart the Alcohol and Drug Policy Council, which is supposed to coordinate addiction treatment across multiple state agencies. This cobweb-covered committee hasn't met in more than a year.

•Pass a law mandating that 75 percent of state-funded addiction treatment be based on scientific evidence of effectiveness.

•Force private insurersto provide the addiction and mental health treatment that policyholders already pay for — without the unconscionable delays and restrictions that now exist. The federal government has not provided regulations on this issue. The state should take the lead.

Our state has two laws that should help save lives. In 2011, Connecticut became one of just a handful of states to enact a "Good Samaritan" law, which grants immunity from prosecution to those who intervene to save someone who is overdosing.

Warning Signs In Your Wallet

Connecticut also passed a law last year allowing health care professionals to hand out Narcan, generally given in the form of a nasal spray. But the law is not enough: The state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services should train people in its use and broadly distribute the drug. Massachusetts, which has a less-restrictive law, has since 2006 been giving Narcan to addicts, friends of addicts, family members, police and firefighters. The two-dose kits have saved nearly 2,000 lives in the Bay State as a result.

Connecticut also needs to publicize the signs of an overdose. Many who die of drug overdoses do so in the presence of those who love them. They think addicts are just in a deep sleep when their shallow breathing and blue lips or fingertips indicate they may be dying. DMHAS has a good video on the signs of overdoses and use of Narcan, but it's buried deep in its website when it should be highlighted on the first page. Better yet, emulate Massachusetts, which takes steps to publicize the warning signs of an overdose through wallet cards and other steps.

DMHAS doesn't require its contractors to do proven, effective, evidence-based treatment, although the agency "encourages" them to do so. Not requiring treatment based on solid research studies is a disservice to addicts and an invitation to waste taxpayers' money. The General Assembly must mandate that within five years, 75 percent of treatment services should be based in proven effectiveness. Oregon passed such a law six years ago.

Finally, Connecticut should reconsider its priorities. Addiction services are scattered through nine state agencies, with nearly all the money earmarked to help adults. Most of the money comes from the DMHAS, which sets aside a quarter of its budget for addiction.

Addiction services for adolescents are obtained through the Department of Children and Families, which spends $23 million of its $818 million budget on addiction. The young are getting short shrift.

Addiction has not been a priority for Connecticut. Yet, as the overdose problem makes clear, the state cannot afford the grievously high cost of its denial.